Sirius' Close Shave
by Little Kunai
Summary: Shortly after breaking out of Azkaban, Sirius is taken in by an elderly lady and has a very close call


**Sirius' Close Shave**

**Disclaimer:**

I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters. JK Rowlings does

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Breaking out of Azkaban and being on the run for several days was hungry work Sirius mentally grumbled as he was forced to choke down some disgusting scraps he'd found in a trash can behind a muggle restaurant.

That was when he heard a voice calling to him.

"Oh you poor thing, you must be half starved to death."

Sirius looked up, his nose twitching with the enticing scent of sausage from the deli. The one holding it was an elderly muggle woman who looked as though a stiff breeze could knock her over.

Sirius wagged his tail and gave the elderly lady a lick and a nuzzle to show how friendly he was.

"Sit." She said.

_How degrading_. He thought, but it was necessary to keep up his act.

He sat.

"That's a good boy." She said approvingly and fed him bits of sausage, her hand shaking a little. She smelled of pears and powder and her other hand gently stroked the fur on his head in a most pleasing fashion.

"Some good food and a bath and you'll be right as rain." She said beckoning him to her van.

That sounded wonderful and he decided it was time to play the affectionate, polite mutt.

She opened the car door and he jumped in, tail thumping against the floor as she got in on the other side.

They got to her house, small and lemon colored with two bedrooms and a lush backyard garden, a resident cockatiel chirped and squawked fearfully as they walked through the door.

She put away her groceries and gave him a bath, before proceeding to clip out the mats in his thick fur and gave him a good brushing.

"Oh you're a handsome boy aren't you?" She asked as she set down a bowl of clean, sweet water, the first Sirius had drunk in a long time after days of drinking out of ditches and scuzzy ponds.

He wagged his tail and licked her hand again.

"My old dog Nero passed away a year ago." She said, holding something for him to inspect.

Sirius looked up to see a picture of a black lab lying on the porch next to a large man, muzzle graying with age.

"The vet said it was old age, but I think he just really missed my husband." Her voice became quavery and her eyes were glassy, but she swallowed back her tears.

"They were the best of friends you know, he died of a heart attack eight years before and Nero finally followed."

She sighed as she replaced the picture on the mantle. "But still, I think it will be nice to have a dog around the house again."

Sirius whined and lay down at her feet.

"We'll have to take you to the vet, get your shots and make sure you're healthy."

Sirius being an animagus, couldn't get animal diseases unless he decided to make the change permanent. Unfortunately, he couldn't tell her that, so he would have to resign himself to whatever barbarity muggle vets practiced.

He awoke the next morning to the smell of baking bread, the cockatiel warbling in its cage.

The old lady saw him walking around and put a leash on him, taking him out back to do his business. It was one of the few things that was truly humiliating about being a dog animagus. He thought, listening to her chat as she pulled him to a spot well away from her flowers and herbs.

He finished his business quickly, thinking that if he were still human he'd be blushing like mad.

But the old lady, whom he later learned was called Isabella Wilkes was kind, and this seemed like a good place to regain his strength so he could catch and kill that traitorous bastard Peter!

He wolfed down his food, appreciative of the fact that the old woman abhorred commercial dog food and cooked his meals herself.

If I didn't have urgent business,He thought as she loaded him into the car, _I could be quite happy here._

First, she drove him to the pet store and got him a collar that fit around his large throat, then she bought him a nametag and Sirius watched with some interest as it was printed out on a muggle machine.

"What do you say to the name Max?" She asked him.

Max wasn't as good as Sirius, but he was willing to go by it for the time he'd be with her. He wagged his tail to let her know he approved and she clipped the tag on him, as he followed slowly behind side.

Some thoughtless teens raced around, nearly causing her to fall. Sirius moved close quick and steadied her.

"That's a good boy Max." She murmured, face pale from her close call.

"If I fell and something happened to me, who would take care of you and Queenie eh?" She asked. Scratching between his ears, the way Sirius loved it most.

His mouth stretched into a wide doggy grin, her hand on his back as they walked to the car.

His mood would later be soured as the muggle vet; a fat, balding man, with an unbelievably attractive blonde nurse poked, prodded, and did unspeakable things to him with a thermometer.

He sat in the corner, shaking with fury and indignation at the "intrusion" and glared at the vet.

The old lady patted his head soothingly.

"Well Mrs. Wilkes, I can't tell for sure his age, but I'd say he's a young adult, up to date on all his shots, and other then being too skinny for his breed, he's got no other health problems."

"That's good news, what breed would you say he is?"

"Mmm." The vet said, "Maybe a Newfoundland mix or perhaps an Akita. I'll tell ye though, I'm a little worried that you're takin in such a big dog right off the street, not knowin his temperament and all, I'd hate to see something happen to ya."

"I would never take in a mean dog." She said with conviction.

Sirius refrained from growling at the man just in time.

"That may be Mrs. Wilkes, but what if he were to get all excitable while you were takin him for a walk and dragged ye down the street? Or jumped on ye and knocked ya down and you being all alone?"

"Nonsense. Max is a perfect gentleman."

Sirius huffed in agreement.

Seeing that the old woman was adamant about keeping him, the vet gave up.

"Alright, bring him in next week and we'll fix him up for ya."

Fix me up? Sirius thought. But the vet just said I was otherwise healthy.

The rest of the week passed pleasantly as Sirius lay at her feet in the early evenings on the porch, wandered the small backyard and took walks with her around the block, all the things a normal dog would do.

He had put on a decent amount of weight and even though you could only _just_ see his ribs his coat was gleaming with good care, free of mats and burrs and Sirius felt happy for the first time in many years.

The next week he was brought to the vet again, weighed and checked over before the old lady dropped him off in a room, promising she'd be back for him later.

Something was definitely off.

He was waiting in the room, trying to work his head around the situation when he smelled the ravishing blonde nurse come in through the door. He put his head close, hoping he'd get some answers.

"Alright what have we got to do this morning?" She asked the older Asian nurse.

"Do a check up on Mittens' pregnancy, clip two birds wings and get Max fixed up."

"Max? You mean Mrs. Wilkes new dog?"

"Yup."

The blonde giggled prettily.

_Oh if I only I were human, rich and handsome again_. Sirius thought dreamily.

"I do believe I feel sorry for old Max."

"Why's that?"

"Cause he's been running around all this time, romancing the lady dogs and now he's going to get his balls whacked off."

Sirius was so shocked by this that he returned to his human form automatically, letting out a sound that was between a gasp and a wheeze.

_They were going to do what?_ He had to get out of here! Fast! But how to sneak out unnoticed when they were right outside his door? He looked around frantically for a means of escape when suddenly he heard the sound of a wailing child come in.

Blood and fear hung heavy in the air and the two nurses rushed away to attend to a dog that had been hit by a car, Sirius opened the door and slipped away from the chaos, vowing to never let himself be taken in by another person as he long as he lived.

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**Author's Note:**

Poor Sirius, it's a good thing the nurse

felt sorry for him, otherwise he would have woken

up a _very _unhappy Animagus.

XD


End file.
